Cantonese Starting/Beginner Resources

Here a list of resources for Cantonese I really recommend and which I personally use:

CantoneseClass101.com >>> It’s my main learning source. Each lesson is based on a dialogue with 4 files to download: The pdf with transcription and grammar notes, one audio file with the dialogue, one with the review (vocabulary) and the third one is a broadcast of two persons (one Cantonese, one Canadian I guess) explaining all the new vocab and grammar. They do a really good job! Even if you don’t have a lot of time to learn Cantonese, you can use these audio files on your mp3 player listening in the car/subway/bus.

Teach Yourself Cantonese >>> A great source. It was first published in the 70s so the Cantonese there sounds a bit out-of-date, BUT the explanations and the structure of the book are very good, giving you an excellent foundation of the language. So even though your Cantonese might sound a bit oldish after this book, but it’s worth because of the profound foundation you will get by this book which will boost up your further Cantonese learning. Also providing audio of course.

Naked Cantonese >>>A really great podcast series by Cecilie Gamst Berg, from the Happy Jellyfish People’s Democratic Language Bureau: “Cecilie Gamst Berg (a.k.a. Ah Sin) – Cantonese Fundamentalist – was born in the swinging sixties, grew up in the sad seventies, left Norway in the anal eighties and settled down in Hong Kong in the nightmarish nineties.” 

Also worth watching Cecilie Gamst Berg’s Youtube channel:  >>>She was the most inspirational foreign person to motivate me to learn Cantonese! I wish I can meet her in future. She is great!!!

PFMproductionz:  >>> It’s a French guy being a native Cantonese speaker (he grew up in Macau) teaching you basic Cantonese.

‘Remembering Traditional Hanzi’  >>> Learning chinese characters is so much easier using the method of Heisig‘s book ‘Remembering Traditional Hanzi’. Just read the sample extract of the book and you will get an idea on how this method  works. There is also a great website for reviewing the book with alternative mnemonic rhymes and a good forum.

Here a list of tools which made Cantonese learning easier:

Mouseover Dictionary Framework (install first) and the Cantonese English Dictionary >>> It’s a pop up dictionary for Google Chrome. For users of other browser there are also similar add-ons.

Cantodict >>> It’s probably the best online dictionary for Cantonese (also having Mandarin entries). With text parsing functions and a good forum.

Ekho(餘音) & Rhinospike >>> In Ekho(餘音) you can paste text in, listen and download as mp3, if you don’t mind to listen to a robot voice. Otherwise try Rhinospike. You can let others record a text for you or upload sound files and videos in order to ask for transcriptions and/or translation

Since you now know how to look up words using CantoDict… Having a Cantonese Language Learning Pack with all useful resources would be great… What does 急流 mean in English?…